Capital Region home sales fall 38 percent

The drop looks stark, but it’s partly due to a rush to purchase last year as federal tax credits expired. In fact, the pace of closed sales is roughly equal to the pace of 2009, meaning the market has returned to its new, post-housing bust normal.

There were 348 closed sales in April in Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties, according to GCAR. That compares to 559 closed sales for the same month last year.

The slowdown can’t be attributed to the housing credit expiration alone. Mortgages are more difficult to obtain and the still-shaky condition of the economy seems to be worrying many potential buyers.

Still, interest rates are still low, and buyers can get much more for their money than before the recession.

“Without question, the residential housing market in the Capital Region is much slower than anyone would expect based upon market conditions,” said Paul Semanek, the president of GCAR.

For the first quarter of the year, GCAR recorded 1,378 closed sales, compared to 1,727 last year and 1,432 in 2009.

The median sales price — an imperfect measurement of home values — was flat or down slightly in most areas in April, GCAR said.

In Albany County, the number of closed sales fell 27 percent in April, while the median fell to three percent to $190,000.

In Rensselaer County, sales fell 53 percent while the median stayed flat at $169,300.

Saratoga County: Sales down 41 percent, while the median drops four percet to $240,000.

And in Schenectady County, saled dropped 35 percent, while the median dropped 12 percent to $142,500.

61 Responses

Should anyone be surprised? In a region that relies heavily on the State of NY for employment,what employee of the State would even think about moving from an apt to a home or move up to a larger home.When you celebrate the news that thousands of “wasteful” jobs are going to be eliminated, you have to expect the consequences. A similar thing happened within a year or two of Gov Pataki takaing office. The same can be applied to school district employees.

i live in saratoga county and have no intention of selling my home at this time,but my humble advice to anyone selling a home up here now,do not panic,do not underprice your home to sell,call in at least three professional brokers to give you their opinions and lastly do not sell by your emotions,with few exceptions most people think their house is worth more than it actually is.one last thing,consider selling your home without a broker.if you are fairly knowlegedable,you can do it.

You hit the nail right on the head mub. Whether people like it or not state employees are a huge part of the local economy and without them knowing their employment situation they will not buy a house, buy a car, go out to dinner as much, etc. You think it is bad now when 10k jobs are just in limbo? Watch and see what happens to this area if 10k are actually laid off, the local economy will nosedive.

Upstate, NY has died! Those left here are the ones that can’t leave. The property tax rates are insane, and the wealth punishing income tax rates continue to push the winners away(NY has some of the highest in the country). In addition, the socialist unions and extreme anti-business laws make this place one of the worst states to do business. True fact, the fastest fleeing demographic out of NY and NJ are those with a liquid net worth of at least $680,000 – not including their residence. And they’re all going and taking their companies to low tax – right to work states like AZ, FL, TX, TN, NC, SC, etc. Perhaps NY should take a clue from the states that we’re losing all of the jobs and winner residents to. A close friend accepted a job in Denver, CO. He purchased a home for exactly what he would of in Rensselaer County and earns the exact same salary. However, he’s taking home $8,100 more per year because of how much lower the income and property taxes are!

Ed, while that may be true for the western, northern and central parts of the State, the Capital Region (and of course NYC) has been gaining population.

And come on be fair, a big reason why people in the central, northern and western parts of the State are leaving for the south is the same reason peopel from ALL OVER the NE (not just NY) are…. the nice weather/no snow. The sky is not falling as you’d like everyone to believe.

Ed, your comments fit the conversations I had with my brother in-law last night perfectly. He earns a very nice income at his business (about $1M a year) and lives in a nicer Clifton Park home (which is for sale). He just bought a 2x larger home in Boca Raton, FL to relocate his business and his property tax bill is exactly 1/3 of what he pays in C. Park. Since Florida has no income tax he will save another nearly $90,000 a year. Hmmm… and people wonder why jobs have left and property values are crashing here?

Just making sure to respond to those that replied to my post. Yes, Texas for example has no state income tax and little socialist entitlement spending. Texas also has the most lenient laws towards business and has been voted by CNBC and Forbes as the number one state to do business. At last check NC was number two and FL number three. Texas has added more jobs than all of the other 49 states combined in the last 24 months. The only thing NY has left is Wall Street and Manhattan. Winner CA residents are fleeing for the same states I mentioned at an even faster pace, but only because CA is even worse than NY to do business because of the crazier income taxation, permit process, and insane enviromental laws. FL, AZ, NV did have a speculative house bubble and are now feeling a rightful correction. However, once the correction is over, those areas are set for incredible growth and stability at a pace that leaves the high tax states like NY at such a competitive disadvantage. How do you beat pro-business, low taxes, and great weather?

This is not just the Capital Region. Nationwide, homes are dropping as well. Robert Shiller just sent out another newsletter stating that he expects there to be another 1.5-2.5 years before excess inventory is worked off with prices declines of another 10%-20%.

Honestly, I’ve been waiting for several years now to get into a home, but the time is still not ideal. Sure, the timing is better then it was a couple of years ago, but things are still not great.

We are just beginning to see the muni layoffs starting. Combined with increasing taxes, rising interest rates, and young adults burdened with a house’s worth in student loans, expect things to get worse before they get better.

Now is the time to save and pay down debts. The time to buy isn’t here, yet.

FLK, I hear what your saying about the Florida heat and humidity in the summer. But for my brother in-law it’s a tradeoff for what he feels is a harsh winter here. He and my sister will still be back in the summer for track season to escape the heat, but will renting a place in Lake George. Look at it from his shoes, he’s saving over $90,000 a year just in income taxes and another $15,000-$20,000 in property taxes to live in a much nicer area and home. They’re also into the whole Palm Beach – Boca lifestyle so the chance for them to enjoy the fruits of their labor on great restaurants, golf, and all is right up their alley. They told me how it’s a huge spectacle if there is a foreclosure on Palm Beach where you can’t buy a shack for less than $2M. Most of those foreclosures were due to Bernie Madoff anyways, and homes in that area have been rising in value. The local news claims it’s because of the huge Wall Street rebound. Many Wall Street tycoons living there. I think seeing a Ferrari or Rolls Royce down there is like seeing a Cadillac here… lol

this is horrible news. but from reading some of the comments the tax deal is the big killer. my husband and i each make $40k a year but the taxes on our $225k house are almost $9k. its not a good feeling knowing that 1/10 of our pay goes to taxes because the real payment on our mortgage isnt even that high. were looking at going to myrtle beach because we can get a same size home for less money in a new area and the tax is only about $1k. the jobs still pay the same atleast in our field.

I think the market corrects itself in terms of housing costs. For example, why are houses less expensive in the south generally as opposed to here? It is because people want to live here more, I know that blows the debbie downers’ minds but it’s true.

Look at NYC compared to this area, it’s alot more expensive there because most people consider it a “better” place to live and want to be there (obviously each individual/family has different ideas but generally speaking). Same goes for homes being cheaper in rural Michigan as opposed to L.A. The list could go on and on and on. I think people tend to make things too complicated when it comes to housing costs and the people who post on this site are very negative about the area as opposed to the general region’s population. Just my .02

@14—NYC is not more expensive because it’s a better place to live. It’s more expensive because there is no more room for development.
With no more land to build on, obviously the prices of the existing structures increase.

It is both amusing and sad that some people are still apologizing for the abysmal economic environment we have here in Upstate NY. Follow this link and ask the people who have relocated to Massachusetts if they left NYS because of the weather.

Did you see the 2010 Census ??? The Census confirms what so many of us have known for years … the economic environment in Upstate NY is poisonous. And if you think its challenging here in the Capitol Region, how’d ya like to be in the Buffalo / Rochester area? When you combine decades of above average unemployment with neglected infrastructure and then add in massive tax increases where EVERY form and level of government comes to the taxpayers year after year after year DEMANDING MORE … the mass exodus from Western NY is the result.

I do not understand why anyone believes that NYS taxes … ALL TAXES (income, sales, property, school, fees, tolls, surcharges) do anything except cause even more people to vote with their feet. In today’s mobile society, it is easier than ever to pick up and leave. Most of us know at least one family who has said “ENOUGH” and left NYS forever. And most of them have put money back in their pockets (usually THOUSANDS of dollars) the very first year after they leave behind the crippling tax burden that is NYS.

Wise up people … do we really want to look like a miniature version of Detroit ten years from now??

Whether you realize it or not … we are already more than halfway there.

Just to buck everyone else’s opinion about the issue of people leaving the area and taxes. I used to live in Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale Florida. High crime is an issue there. There are no income taxes, but the property taxes are just as high as here and in many cases higher. All of the schools are lousy. So, you get what you pay for. There are many other costs that are much higher.As a matter of fact, when I relocated for business, the relocation estimates were about 20% too low to my actual experiences of costs in that area. I also lived in CT which has lower property taxes, but everything else there is expensive because the competition for things with a wealthy population. There was also an automobile property tax, so if they don’t get you one way then they get you another. I also lived in RI which had lower taxes for income and property but had automobile property tax and the prices of things escalated every summer for seasonal people and the property prices where out of this world. There was not much industry there even less than here, so your job choices were few.

I actually think this is a great place to start a business because the competition in places like Florida is fierce. Honestly, I couldn’t ever hire a good contractor, because there were a lot of fly by night businesses there.

Why do you think Florida WAS so popular???
It’s because it was cheap. People flocked to Florida. Retirees and everyone else for that matter.
Junkville mentality it became. (high crime and fly by night businesses as mentioned by Linda was were they worked)
That’s why I never understood why Florida keeps coming up in every comparison (in 2011).
It’s not much different here in the upstate. Take a ride through Troy, Schenectady or Albany or Cohoes.
Then take a ride through Charlotte or Raleigh, NC or Greenville, SC.
See for yourselves.

I have made no argument suggesting the Capitol Region lost population. But we are part of Upstate NY and we suffer from most, if not all of the same challenges as the southern tier, central and western NY. My reference to the 2010 Census states with crystal clarity that it is indicative of a poison economic environment across Upstate and I further make reference to an exodus from Western NY … NOT the Capital Region!!

GET IT?!?!?!

The Capital Region has been spared the worst of the hard times because a large percentage of our employment base is government (Feds, State, counties, cities, towns, villages and schools) or directly government dependant. But in case you have not noticed, this particular type of employment is SHRINKING and will continue to shrink for many years to come. Follow this link and pay particularly close attention to the line that says “Once again, the core Capital Region lost more jobs than any other metro area in New York, for the fifth month in a row.”

The Capital Region will no longer be insulated from the economic realities that our Upstate neighbors have lived through for years.

Now if you are so unintuitive that you do not understand all of these profoundly negative forces or see how they impact Capital Region home sales, home values and the anemic residential housing market … then keep thinking people are leaving NYS because of the weather. Upstate NY INCLUDING the Capital Region is in real trouble and it’s gonna get worse … a lot worse … before it gets better.

I began my previous post by stating that “It is both amusing and sad that some people are still apologizing for the abysmal economic environment we have here in Upstate NY”.

Jerry – You are not seriously trying to compare Albany to Buffalo (Western), Binghamton (Southern Tier) and Utica (Central) are you?! Your argument and comparison is so off base it is laughable. Albany is light years ahead of those areas. And while you mention the shrinking of government which probably will continue to occur, you make no mention of the billions and billions and billions of dollars being pumped into the region by Global Foundries and Albany Nanotech? We made the front page of the L.A. Times as a model for smart tech growth for the entire nation. You can respond with all the 8 paragraph responses you want but it won’t make your argument any less delusional. You certainly have an agenda; unfortunately you don’t have the facts to back it up.

J-if the Carolinas are so awesome why aren’t you there already? Your negativity is not needed, please go!